Marko Torkkeli

The contribution of technology selection to core competencies

Abstract The purpose of this study is to provide a process which can be used to analyze and understand the linkages between the technology selection and core competencies of a company. The understanding of the linkages helps in setting priorities between different technologies and markets, when the company is acquiring or developing new technology. Opportunities for building and managing core competencies should be systematically assessed when selecting technologies. The developed process helps to clarify the impacts of technology selection to core competencies in a systematic way in industrial companies. Finally, the potential benefits of a group decision support system for promoting technology selection processes and core competence management are discussed.

Open innovation in Russian firms: an empirical investigation of technology commercialisation and acquisition

The open innovation paradigm suggests that while the costs of innovation and RD form and analyse the clusters. Based on the previous survey and the current study, we develop a model, how Russian companies explore for knowledge/innovation/technology circulation.

New product creation process of KIBS firms: a case study

The trade-off between standardisation and customisation is one of the crucial issues in new service development. In this paper, we first review some earlier theoretical works on the formalisation of the new service development process and its impact on firm success. Thereafter, we examine existing theoretical process models for service productisation and discuss their similarities and differences regarding proposed generic design processes. A case study of productisation process in a Finnish KIBS firm operating in internet communications and marketing business highlights the usability of developed theoretical framework in a real-life context; the small-sized company has been able to capture double digit growth path in recent years.

A GDSS based approach for the assessment of customer needs in industrial markets

Abstract Need assessment is a critical success factor of product development in all companies; developing the right product requires an accurate understanding of customer needs. All available information about customer needs should be carefully assessed in the early phases of product development. In this paper we study the usefulness and usability of a Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) in the assessment of customers’ needs in industrial companies. We studied two real-world need assessment cases carried out in cooperation with a Finnish telecommunications company. These cases focused on the assessment of the lead users’ needs for new types of applications based on wireless technologies. GDSS technology offered many benefits for promoting the assessment of industrial customer needs. These case experiences will be described more profoundly in this paper.

A framework for comparing regional open innovation systems in Russia

Like many of the post-soviet countries, Russia has entered the new century targeting at creation of competitive economy, based on knowledge and innovation with strong emphasis at the role of the regions. At the same time, the western world has entered an era of a new approach to innovation, shifting from a closed to an open innovation (OI) paradigm. This paper focuses on the development of an integrated regional open innovation system (ROIS) and introduces a framework for the analysis of OI implementation within regional innovation system in Russia. St Petersburg region of Russia is studied as an example for the developed framework. This paper contributes the ROIS and related constituting concepts by offering a framework for studying and comparing ROISs in Russia.

Success factors of interorganisational knowledge transfer: a case of a collaborative public?private R&D project

The ability to effectively transfer valuable knowledge across organisational boundaries has been shown to be an important determinant of success of cooperation. In this paper, we examine the most important factors facilitating and impeding knowledge transfer in academic-industry research collaborations. We first discuss these factors in terms of the nature of knowledge being transferred and communication theory. We also review characteristics of academic-industry partnerships in order to identify specific factors that may affect the success of knowledge transfer. In a case study, we then examine a collaborative innovation process involving a governmental research institute and an engineering consulting firm. Finally, research findings are compared to the results of earlier studies and managerial implications are given.

The Impact of Cooperation on Firms’ Innovation Propensity in Emerging Economies

The importance of collaboration has been one of the main issues in innovation studies. Despite many different findings on collaboration and its impact on innovation performance, the impact of different types of collaboration on different types of innovation is still inconclusive. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of openness on the performance of the innovation process in a leading emerging economy. Cooperation with partners and their effects on innovation propensity unveil that process, marketing and organisational innovations are determinants of product and service innovation, thus confirming that the various innovation types are intertwined and mutually supporting each other. From a geographical perspective, cooperating with external parties from the same country plays a dominant role in determining the innovation outcome. Cooperating with consultants and private labs on the other hand seems to negatively affect innovation performance. Surprisingly, the role of foreign cooperation remains ambiguous as results were not statistically significant.

INNOVATIVENESS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS: CASE OF RUSSIAN R&D COMPANIES

The number of Russian companies entering international markets has increased dramatically in the last 10 years. The development of innovative industries has intensified as well. Do innovations play significant role in internationalisation? Do innovators internationalize more actively? Does operating on international markets make companies more innovative? This paper studies innovations and internationalisation of companies in Russia, based on the survey of R&D-oriented companies located in the two most developed areas of Russia (St. Petersburg and Moscow). The study aims to identify the clusters of companies according to their exports and R&D expenditures, and fulfil in-depth analysis of innovations-related determinants that could explain the structure of the clusters. The main results of the study show the significant impact of innovation activities, competition and new product development on export intensity.

Knowledge absorption in an emerging economy – the role of foreign investments and trade flows in Russia

This paper studies the role of foreign investments and trade flows in knowledge absorption and innovativeness in Russia. Funding and human resources devoted to Research and Development (R&D) have been considerable in Russia, but so far, the innovation activity and R&D output has been modest. In order to achieve sustainable growth, Russia needs to change from a natural resource-based economy to a knowledge-oriented economy. Knowledge absorption from foreign investors in Russia is defined in a general level conceptually. Innovation indicators, such as domestic R&D expenditures and the level of higher education, are used to measure the overall absorptive capacity in Russia. It is assumed that Russia is, at the moment, more focused on imitating existing innovations than creating its own science-based innovations. The results of a statistical analysis indicate that the inflow of technology in the form of foreign investments and trade meet favourable technology/innovation absorption conditions in the Russian regions. Foreign investors are significant actors in the knowledge absorption framework.

Innovation Patterns in KIBS Organizations: A Case Study of Finnish Technical Engineering Industry

The innovation patterns in Finnish engineering consultancies are analyzed in terms of service innovation types. The utilized typology of service innovations includes four dimensions: new service concepts, new client interfaces, organizational innovations and technological options. The empirical findings indicate that innovations in Finnish engineering consultancies mainly occur as client-led innovations and innovations through services. Typical examples of innovations are related to new organizational models and networks, which help working with the clients, and technology-based innovations, which can take the form of new software. Based on the analysis, we draw some preliminary conclusions about the general development needs in innovation patterns of the engineering consultancy sector. We also outline some potential directions for future studies